seeking 6-sided snowflakes

Oddly enough, a lesson in spiritual warfare presented itself the other day in my snowflake creating frenzy.

In my first attempt to follow the directions, things went awry and this was the result:

Pretty right? Except that it's not. Right, that is.

You see, snowflakes are six-sided. (It has something do with hexagonal shapes and how they're perfectly suited to help water molecules sticking together - something I learned while homeschooling ;). )  The one pictured above has eight sides.

Then, as I was creating more, anatomically-correct flakes, Brie and Reese kept exclaiming how they loved this one (the eight-sided one). And since we were doing a weather unit for science and snowflakes were one of the things we studied, I tried to explain that although this one was pretty, it wasn't "right."

After arguing back and forth for a few minutes about the acceptability of this pretty snowflake, it finally dawned on me that this is exactly what God warns us against when He said in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." (NIV) I also like how The Message puts it: "Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light."

So I began explaining to them that this is exactly what we need to be on our guard against - things that look pretty and look like the real deal, but upon closer inspection are nothing but a dolled-up sham. And how many examples there are in the world today.

Television shows and books marketed to children are the two which come top of mind and which continually challenge me to look beyond the surface as a parent trying to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. The troubling thing is see how many followers of Christ are taken in by these pretty eight-sided snowflakes. Lest this turn into rant, I'll leave it at that, except for this grace note (and image).

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18 NIV)